If I Never Left
by Kaito Lune
Summary: ONE-SHOT! NO PAIRINGS! Takuya had watched his friends disappear before his eyes by the hands of Duskmon. He boarded a dark Trailmon but what if he saw something different? AU to episode 22 "Home Again, Takuya Returns" .


**A/N: Well, this was totally random. It just came to me as I tried falling asleep. I guess this could be a bit AU-ish on what happened to Takuya during the Frontier episode "Home Takuya Returns". Unlike that episode, Takuya sees what would have happened if he hadn't gone. I really messed with it, okay? I know it's a tad bit darker than what I normally write for one-shots. There is a bit of gore in it and character death (we'll only see it in a dream). Anyway, enjoy this really weird one-shot.**

_What If I Never Left_

_Where had I gone wrong?_ Takuya thought to himself. _What have I done?_ Nothing but darkness surrounded him. Everything had gone wrong. He had been too arrogant to listen to Koji. He had been too blind. Because of him, his friends and the Digital World would be gone.

"Hey, kid, ready to go?" asked a sluggish voice. "Ready to go home?"

Takuya looked up. "Yeah," he smiled sadly. "I'm ready to go home. Everything wouldn't have happened if I hadn't responded to that text message. Everyone would have been okay."

"Well, then get on," replied the dark Trailmon as he opened the doors. Takuya walked on, the passing moments were clouded with his memories and mixed feelings. Koji's words floated through his mind.

"_If you're not afraid of being killed, than go ahead. But promise me that the others won't get hurt. If they do, you might as well go home."_

"Yeah, everything would have turned out better," he whispered to himself. The guilt still didn't go away. "I wonder what would happen if I hadn't gone. Would everyone have survived Duskmon's attack?" With no cue or anything, he felt as if he was thrown back. He slammed into the ground as he felt something odd happen to him. It felt something like Spirit Evolving but less; much less.

The Trailmon finally stopped. Takuya got up and looked around and out the window. He noticed that this wasn't the crystal interior of the underground station in Shibuya. It was the place where Worm had dropped him, JP, Zoe, and Tommy off when they first came to the Digital World. The doors opened and he stepped out.

"Why am I here?" he wondered to himself. He watched as a Worm Trailmon pulled in. Several Pagumon were waiting at the docking platform, as if waiting for something. After parking the doors opened. When nothing came out, steam billowed from the inside, knocking out three kids in which Takuya recognized as Tommy, JP, and Zoe. But where was he?

Takuya ran up to them just as Worm began pulling away. "Tommy! JP! Zoe! Hey!" he shouted just as the blond stood and called after the Trailmon. The next thing he knew was that he ran right through her. "

"Hey! What's a Spirit?" she shouted after him.

"Wha?" he wondered aloud as he put his hand right through her. He turned towards JP and tried to get his attention, but it didn't work.

Just then Tommy began to wail. "I want to go home!"

"Gez, this kid could work as a fire alarm," JP grumbled.

Zoe turned to him and scolded him. "JP, come on," she said. The two didn't catch Tommy as he began running towards the rails that had nothing below them. Zoe and JP ran after him after noticing him run.

"Tommy! Come back!" Zoe beckoned him.

"Gez, are we going to have to keep saving the baby?" he muttered. Zoe gave him a glare and turned back to trying to coax the boy into coming back to them.

"I-I didn't want to come," he said, turning back to them.

JP sighed. "Come on, kid. Get back here before you fall of or become a train pancake. You're only going to fall." This didn't help Tommy, so Zoe tried again.

"Tommy, I'm sure we can get back home," she explained. "We can just wait for the next Trailmon. Once it comes, we can all go home. How's that?"

"O-okay," Tommy answered after several minutes. He turned and began walking towards them.

Unexpectedly, green flames rose from not too far away and the land below them began to turn into something like data and began to disappear. Zoe turned her attention towards Tommy. "Tommy! Hurry!" she shouted but it was too late. With the loss of land, the rail had nothing to hold it; the train rail broke and began sinking. Tommy grabbed it with his arms and legs but he followed the broken rail downwards.

"Tommy!" Zoe shouted after him, trying to go and help him but JP grabbed her. Takuya began running towards the edge to try and help the falling boy.

"Hey, Zoe, there's nothing we can do!" he said. It seemed directed towards both of them. And it was true. Tommy fell, fell into the nothingness below the rail.

"TOMMY!" Takuya and Zoe shouted unanimously. JP held her arm so she couldn't jump after him.

"Come on, there's nothing we can do now," he said. Takuya looked back and saw that Zoe fell to her knees and began to weep. _What's going on here?_ he thought.

There was another burst of flames and two Digimon began running towards them. Bokomon and Neemon ran into Zoe and JP. "Huh? Humans?" Bokomon asked as he got off the girl. Zoe had a look of shock on her face.

There wasn't much time for them to exchanged pleasantries. Cerubemon jumped from the green flames and landed right in front of the five. Takuya was bewildered. Didn't he already defeat him before?

"Where's the Spirit?" demanded Cerubemon in a snarl.

No one answered, so he pounced. JP helped Zoe to her feet and they all began to run. Takuya ran after them, pulling out his D-tector. "I have to help them! Spirit Evolution!" Nothing happened. The goggle-head stopped in his tracks as he stared down at it. He tried again and again but it didn't work. "Damn it!" he cursed. "Damn it! Why won't it work?"

Suddenly, Takuya heard a girl's scream. It had to be Zoe! He ran towards the direction of the scream and found that Zoe was pinned under Cerebumon. Takuya gritted his teeth. If he couldn't Spirit Evolve, he could do _something._ He ran towards Cerebumon but ran right through him, as if he was a ghost. Takuya turned back and watched in horror as the giant black dog-demon raised a claw and slashed the Italian with no remorse.

Blood splattered and a few seconds later, her body smashed into a million pieces, just like a porcelain doll being dropped to the floor. All that was left was Zoe's pink and purple D-tector. It showed the purple sign for wind on the screen before the image died and the device turned to dust. All he could do was gap in horror. Cerebumon and Takuya heard the gasp of horror that was muttered from JP's mouth, who wasn't too far away. Cerebumon turned towards the heavy-set boy and leaped.

Takuya squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears but his friend's horrible cry still reached him. _Where the hell is me?_ he thought. "Where the hell am I? Why aren't I here? Would this have happened if I wasn't here?" Takuya shouted angrily. "Why am I being shown this?"

The next thing Takuya knew, he was back in the Trailmon. He opened his eyes and rubbed his head. "Man," he said to himself. "I must have hit my head hard." He suddenly remembered what he had just seen. Was it a dream? It seemed too real to be one. Nothing made any sense.

Bewildered and unsure of what that was about he turned to look out the window and saw that he was back in the underground station. Takuya walked out. A faint calling caught his attention. Where was it coming from? He took the elevator but when the doors closed, everything around him faded.

What the heck was going on? He was now in a hallway. Takuya assumed that he was in a Shibuya Station hallway. He looked around and then down the hallway when he noticed a dark haired boy lying faces down below a flight of steps. Instinct told him something bad happened, so he ran to the boy.

Takuya's eyes went wide. "Koji?" he asked. _No,_ he said to himself. _This couldn't be Koji._

A faint whisper escaped the boy's lips but Takuya didn't hear it. Suddenly, a hole opened up beneath him. Takuya gasped and ran towards the hole, grabbing the boy's hand before he could fall too far.

The boy's eyes were wide with fright. "H-help me!" he pleaded to Takuya. He tried to pull the Koji look-alike up but something heavier than gravity was pulling him down. Eventually, the boy was wrenched from his grasp and began falling with a cry. Takuya landed on his butt, gasping.

Fear suddenly coursed through him as Duskmon jumped from the hole. He stood there silently, holding his blades as if ready to strike. Takuya's fear slowly melted away as he remembered his friends.

"You may have scared me back in the Digital World," he said as he rose. "But I'm not afraid anymore! I'll fight for my friends!" He leaped at Duskmon, flame dancing around him as he crashed into Duskmon. As he crashed through it, Duskmon disappeared like he was never there. Takuya stood up again, noticing that he was back in the Trailmon Station under Shibuya.

"Ready to go back home?" asked the dark Trailmon.

"No," he answered. "I'm ready to go back to the Digital World." He marched towards it.

"You know that you won't have any second chances," the dark Trailmon told him. "You won't be able to go back home."

"My friends need me now," Takuya answered. "No more running."

After a few moments, the dark Trailmon finally answered. "All right, all aboard." The doors opened and Takuya stepped in, just as he had the first time he went to the Digital World. _But this time, I know what I'm doing,_ he thought. _Everyone, hang on!_

When the doors opened, Agunimon stepped out of the Trailmon. He wasn't going back until everything was done. His friends had pulled him back and now he was. Now, putting a new foot forwards, Takuya as Agunimon and BurningGreymon wouldn't make the same mistake twice. _Koji, everyone, I'm coming._


End file.
